Margaret Merrilees
Autor de The First Week
Obras de Margaret Merrilees
Etiquetado
Conocimiento común
- Género
- female
Miembros
Reseñas
discovered Margaret Merrilees, a writer from Adelaide, when Wakefield Press published her first novel, The First Week. This novel really impressed me (see my review) partly because it was such an authentic portrait of an older woman whose quiet life is shattered by the actions of her adult son. Her world is destroyed and her search for meaning in what he has done takes her on a journey of discovery which is painful and confronting. It was a serious book about serious issues and I thought it was a fine debut.
Demonstrating her versatility as a writer with aplomb, Merrilees followed up with the quixotic Fables, Queer and Familiar. It’s a light-hearted look at the urban lives of a couple of lesbian grannies in Adelaide. The book started life as the online serial ‘Adelaide Days’, which is broadcast by Radio Adelaide, and consists of short episodes linked together to form a novella of sorts. It’s a slim book, only 159 pages, and I romped through it in no time.
The grannies, part of a large and loving family, are long time leftie activists who keep a close eye on current politics, both in South Australia and nationally, with occasional forays interstate as when they are indignant about corruption in NSW politics. They are pro-Gillard and anti-Rudd, and outraged by the treatment of refugees. They are keen participants at Adelaide Writers Week and enthusiastic recyclers of all sorts of junk. And they are quick to notice misogyny whenever it occurs
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2017/02/01/fables-queer-and-familiar-by-margaret-merril...… (más)
Demonstrating her versatility as a writer with aplomb, Merrilees followed up with the quixotic Fables, Queer and Familiar. It’s a light-hearted look at the urban lives of a couple of lesbian grannies in Adelaide. The book started life as the online serial ‘Adelaide Days’, which is broadcast by Radio Adelaide, and consists of short episodes linked together to form a novella of sorts. It’s a slim book, only 159 pages, and I romped through it in no time.
The grannies, part of a large and loving family, are long time leftie activists who keep a close eye on current politics, both in South Australia and nationally, with occasional forays interstate as when they are indignant about corruption in NSW politics. They are pro-Gillard and anti-Rudd, and outraged by the treatment of refugees. They are keen participants at Adelaide Writers Week and enthusiastic recyclers of all sorts of junk. And they are quick to notice misogyny whenever it occurs
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2017/02/01/fables-queer-and-familiar-by-margaret-merril...… (más)
Compelling debut novel about a mother who needs to reassess her life and ideas after her son's random violence against others. For my full review, please see Whispering Gums: http://whisperinggums.com/2014/02/22/margaret-merrilees-the-first-week-review/
Premios
Estadísticas
- Obras
- 3
- Miembros
- 21
- Popularidad
- #570,576
- Valoración
- 3.7
- Reseñas
- 3
- ISBNs
- 9
But although Big Rough Stones is a story about lesbian life, (and often very funny) it’s a story for all of us because it also taps into other fears that beset those of us of a certain age. We fear the warming planet and the lives our children will lead as the weather becomes more and more extreme. After a long day sandbagging against a rogue flood coming across Semaphore Rd in Adelaide, Ro, the central character, asks her friends if they could have done more:
For a while there, our generation did think we could change the world…
1970s feminism in Australia was a broad church. Not all agendas encompassed wanting to dismantle the patriarchy in radical ways or to exclude men like some of the characters in this book, but there were lots of things we wanted to change. And wherever we come from on the political spectrum, we’ve all had to adapt, change, compromise and put aside rueful disappointments.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2018/08/05/big-rough-stones-by-margaret-merrilees-bookr...… (más)